haven't posted any bird pictures for identification so far on this trip, but
there's an intriguing reason for that. There are none. No, seriously. A few
sparrows pecking at the ground in Ho Chi Minh City but it dawned on me this
morning when we were eating breakfast outside at the hotel where normally
there'd be well-trained birds not-so-patiently waiting for crumbs that there
are no birds. Where the heck are they? In Hue, we are not far from the coast
and on top of a river....no water birds even? Not a duck? Not a seagull? Not
a pigeon. Freakish really.
So on our river cruise today I was purposely scanning for them. ONE white
crane flew across the river in front of us. ONE. The whole time. And once at
another emperor's tomb I heard something chirping. It might have been a bird
but that is pure speculation. But that was it. Very peculiar............
Meanwhile, the river cruise was nice. A lot of dredging of the river whereby
these little local boats suck up the bottom with big hoses, force the spray
through a screen and collect the sand/silt into the hull of the boat to take
it to the side of the river to off load it all and do it again. Only a few
boats actually fishing. Of course for all I know there aren't a whole lot
more fish than there are birds.
Saw more tombs, more temples, more pagodas and some water buffalo. I thought
at first they just looked like unhappy cows, but that's because they were
water buffalo. And just like any place touristy, it always makes me laugh
when you are walking to an 'attraction' and there is a line of stalls or
kiosks and everybody is trying to sell you the EXACT same things. Bananas?
Candy? Coca Cola? Bananas? Candy? Coca Cola? Over and over again. How come
nobody ever throws in a Cookies? Margaritas? Nope. Whatever it is in the
area (Chicklets in Mexico or Finger puppets in Cuzco, Peru) that's it. No
exceptions.
In addition, I realize that I've only seen a wee tiny little bit of Vietnam,
but I clearly had some incorrect, preconceived notions of the area. I was
expecting one of two things: jungle or Bali. So far I'm wrong on both
counts. Obviously no jungle in the cities. But we are also in the midst of
pine covered forests. Totally unexpected. Gotta go back and check my
latitude.
On the food front, had another great lunch today. Grilled shrimp and grilled
pork that you wrap in rice paper along with some greens (tiny cilantro, tiny
mint, tiny celery leaves and lettuce) with a light peanut sauce. Yum. Yum.
And Michael tried the banana blossom and shrimp soup that he liked so much
he wants to go back to have more for dinner. Really nice.
Afterwards we did a little strolling around and window shopping. We've
really gotten quite adept at crossing the street amidst all of the cars,
motorcycles, scooters and bikes. Have decided that the key is NEVER flinch
and for heaven's sake NEVER STOP. Pick your path, stick to it, and maintain
a steady and predictable speed so everybody else can avoid you. Works like a
charm. Walking 'along' the street is actually the tricky part. You have
moving vehicles on the streets, but you have parked vehicles all along the
sidewalks - such as they are. So you are either up and down off the curbs to
take advantage of the short stretches of unobstructed sidewalk that exist
before stepping down into the street again or you just stay in the street.
Michael was getting a little uncomfortable walking in the street and
demanded that we get back up on the sidewalk. Not two strides later a
bicycle comes out of a space between two houses, turns right while looking
left and comes within a hair's breadth of hitting us. So after being
perfectly safe crossing the streets, we nearly get hit on the sidewalk!
Finally, we stepped into one little shop and my head whips around. What is
that? What is that sound? Birds? Are there birds here finally? Yup, 6 of
them in 6 cages hanging from the ceiling. And then I remembered the other
place I saw birds....at the market....in cages. That's where the birds are.
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